Index Archive

20 August 2014

RIP Yoga Guru BKS Iyengar dies Yoga Guru BKS Iyengar died on Wednesday in Pune. He was 96 years old.

He founded school of Iyengar Yoga

Short Biography of Yoga Guru BKS Iyengar

1-B. K. S. Iyengar, or Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar

2-Born and Died December 14 1918- August 20, 2014)

3-He has written many books on yoga practice and philosophy including Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, and Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Iyengar yoga classes are offered throughout the world. Iyengar was one of the earliest students of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who is often referred to as "the father of modern yoga.

4-He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991, the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2014.In 2004, Iyengar was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.

5-B.K.S. Iyengar was born into an Iyengar family (a priestly Brahmin caste) at Bellur, Kolar District Karnataka, and India.

6-With the encouragement of Krishnamacharya, Iyengar, aged 18 moved to Pune in 1937In 1943, he married Ramamani, to whom he had been introduced by his brothers. Together they raised five daughters and a son. Both his eldest daughter Geeta (born in 1944) and his son Prashant are well known teachers The other children of B.K.S. Iyengar are Vanita, Sunita, Suchita, and Savita.Geeta Iyengar is the author of Yoga: A Gem for Women (2002), and Prashant is the author of several books, including A Class after a Class: Yoga, an Integrated Science (1998), and Yoga and the New Millennium (2008). Geeta and Prashant co-direct the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune

7-He taught yoga to several noted personalities including Jiddu Krishnamurti, Jayaprakash Narayan and Yehudi Menuhin.He taught sirsasana (head stand) to Elisabeth, Queen of Belgium when she was 80.

8-In 1966, Light on Yoga was published. It eventually became an international best-seller and was translated into 17 languages.In total, Iyengar authored 14 books.

9-In 1975, Iyengar opened the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, in memory of his late wife. He officially retired from teaching in 1984, but continues to be active in the world of Iyengar Yoga, teaching special classes and writing books. Iyengar's daughter, Geeta, and son, Prashant, have gained international acclaim as teachers.

10-3 October 2005 was declared as "B.K.S.Iyengar Day" by San Francisco city's Board of Supervisors.

11-In June 2011, he was presented with a commemorative stamp issued in his honour by the Beijing branch of China Post. There are over thirty thousand Iyengar yoga students in 57 cities in China.

12-The noun "Iyengar" is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as "a type of astanga yoga...", named after B.K.S.Iyengar, its deviser.

13-He donated Rs. 2 million to Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, Mysore, reckoned to be the highest amount donated to any zoo in India.

14-He also adopted a tiger and a cub in memory of his wife, who died in 1973.